How Did Napoleon III Impact The French Revolution

Napoleon III

Napoleon III was the first president of the French Second Republic and later in life the Emperor of the Second French Empire. Napoleon III is still known and talked about today due to the reconstruction of Paris, along with his overall "cleansing of France"(Wikipedia, Napoleon III.) and social reforms. Napoleon III had a large impact on France and the French and is still taught about at schools. Napoleon III was significant in many ways. But in my opinion he is mostly known and important for his reform of education for girls and women along with reforming the school system, his lowering of tariffs and opening the French market, and his modernization of Frances infrastructure and economy.

Napoleon III was born in Paris

on 20, April, 1808. Napoleon III was born under the name Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and then Louis Napoleon. Napoleon's father was Louis Bonaparte, and his mother was was Hortense de Beauharnais.

When Napoleon (Bonaparte) lost in the battle of Waterloo along with Bourbon Restoration of all monarchy in France, the members of the Bonaparte dynasty were forced into exile. Napoleon III bounced around from four different places. The places were Aix, Berne, Baden, and eventually Switzerland. He later moved to Germany where he received his education at the Gymnasium School. At a young age he learned about French history and radical politics. At the age of fifteen Napoleon III moved to Rome where he learned the art of seduction. His brother Napoleon-Louise died in a battle they fought due to being members of the Carbonari. The Carbonari were a secret revolutionary society who fought Austria's domination of northern Italy. After many years, around 5 may, he returned once again to exile in Switzerland. From 1833 to 1839 Napoleon III published

many books including Rêveries politique and Considérations politiques et militaire sur la suisse in 1834. His books were mostly about politics, economics, and military. Napoleon III strongly felt that he had the right to rule. "I believe," Louis Napoleon wrote, "that from time to time, men are created whom I call volunteers of providence, in whose hands are placed the destiny of their countries. I believe I am one of those men. If I am wrong, I can perish uselessly. If I am right, then providence will put me into a position to fulfill my mission"(Napoleon III.) Napoleon attempted to form an uprising On 29 October 1836 in Strasbourg. It was highly unsuccessful and he was forced to flee back to Switzerland.
In the summer of 1840 Napoleon III resided in France.

During the summer Napoleon hired a small army of around sixty men and bought weapons, uniforms and a ship the Edinburgh-Castle. He and his men sailed to the port of Boulogne. Once again he failed miserably and was capture, put on trial and sent to life in prison in Northern France. In prison he turned back to writing many poems and his political ideologies. He eventually became a known writer from inside prison. On 25 May 1846 with help from his doctor at the time Napoleon III under disguise escaped from prison. Soon after his escape Napoleon III returned to England where he went back to his old ways having affairs with many woman " He went back to his studies at the British Museum. He had an affair with the actress Rachel the most famous French actress of the period, during her tours to England. More important for his future career, he had an affair with the wealthy heiress Harriet Howard (1823–65). They had met In 1846, soon after his return to England. "They began to live together, she took in his two illegitimate children and raised them with her own son, and she provided financing for his political plans so that, when the moment came, he could return to France."(Napoleon III) On February 1848 Napoleon was informed of a revolution occurring in France. During late February he set out to France to gain what he believed to be rightfully his. On December 1848 Napoleon III announced that he would run for President. This

election would be highly democratic and involve universal male suffrage. This was good for Napoleon because most of his followers were hard working middle class. Napoleon III was appealing to both the left and right wing and the middle class along with the elderly. On 10–11 December Napoleon III surprised many winning the election with 74 percent of all votes, "in December he was President of the French Republic by an overwhelming vote" (Guerard, 49) This made Napoleon the first president of France. One of Napoleon's first acts as president was the Reconstruction of France beginning in 1854. This was essentially cleaning up the streets, water, sewage system and lastly railroads. Napoleons presidential candidacy began positive but slowly crumbled along with his health. There were many wars including War in italy from 1858 to 59, and the Franco-Prussian war. Both with disappointing results. Napoleon attempted to expand his country to Mexico, once again horrible results. After the humiliating defeat in Battle of Sedan and capitulation Napoleon was exiled and died on 9 January 1873.
In my opinion one significance of Napoleon III was his reformation of school systems along with changing education for women and girls. Though Napoleon may of had a very unsuccessful candidacy a positive was his reformation of women's education. On 1862 the first school for woman in France was instituted.That same year Madeleine Brès enrolled into a school called the University of Paris, becoming the first woman to do so. Just a year after in 1863 Napoleon III elected Victor Duruy as his new prime minister in order to speed up the reformation process. Napoleon along with Duruy opened up over 300 new schools for women. The Catholic Church highly disapproved of this. The education system began to change as well, shown by the implementation of philosophy which had been previously banned by the Catholic Church. Public schools also began to teach contemporary history, arts, gymnastics and modern language, This is much more like the current education system. In 1852 40 percent of the French military could not read, by 1869 only 25 percent could not.
A second event that was of significance was Napoleon lowering the tariffs and opening the French market. One of the main reasons he was elected president was because of his promises to lower tariffs. Napoleon III had gotten the idea from his time in Britain where Prime Minister Robert Peel had lowered the tariffs on imported grains. He saw how successful this was and attempted to do so in France. Many industrialists and farmers did not like this because they felt that it would hurt their income. on 23 January 1860 Napoleon III made a secret agreement with Britain to lower the tariffs. He did this without consulting the assembly. Many people came to Paris in protest of this and it prolonged the lowering of the tariffs until June 1861. France reached similar negotiations with many close countries including Netherlands and Italy. All of this ended up being productive for France and forced them to modernize in agriculture and industry.
A final important factor was his failure to increase the size of Frances military. Although this was very significant it was not at all positive for France. The reason Napoleon III began attempting to expand was because of fear of other countries like Germany and Prussia's army of seven-hundred thousand men. This absolutely dwarfed Frances army of three hundred and eighty thousand men who were dispersed in other countries. In 1867 Napoleon III proposed universal military services in order to enlarge the military. His opposition did not like this idea and wisely said that they needed soldiers and not recruiters. The opposition was joined by the Republicans who did not want to militarize France. Due to all the pressure Napoleon retracted the idea. I believe he could have stood by what he believed and made France much more powerful. Due to not expanding the military France went on to lose many wars and slowly become a weaker and weaker country and nation.
In my opinion Napoleon III was significant and important to French Culture and history in many ways. Weather it being his reform of education for girls and women along with reforming the school system which made France a much more intelligent country. Or perhaps his opening of the French market and lowering of tariffs, thus boosting Frances economy. Than lastly theres the negative significance in his failure to expand Frances military. It is hard to argue that Napoleon III helped to form France into how it is to this day, in both good and bad regards.